Canadians head to quarters at Universiade

KAZAN, Russia(July 10, 2013) – The Canadian women’s volleyball team was overmatched by Brazil on Wednesday in the duel for first place in Group B at the 27th Summer Universiade.

Canada (1-1) had already booked its ticket for the quarter-finals Tuesday night when Brazil defeated Norway. The red and white, who advanced past the first round for the first time since 2001, will face Pool D winner Thailand in the second round Friday at 1 p.m. local time (5 a.m. ET), live on the web at www.fisu.tv.

The Canadians jumped to an early 4-2 lead in the first set on a block by Alicia Perrin of Creston, B.C. (Trinity Western University), but their rivals answered right away with five straight points and never looked back. Up 18-15, the Brazilians closed the game with seven consecutive points.

Canada once again took an early advantage in the second but another 7-0 run gave the South Americans a commanding 16-7 lead, en route to the comfortable 25-15 win.

Down 10-4 in the third frame, Canada came back to within two at 11-9, thanks in large part to four kills by Lisa Barclay of Brandon, Man. (UBC). But it proved too little too late and Brazil once again cruised to the easy set victory.

Tabi Love of Dauphin, Man. (UCLA) had a team-high 10 kills in the loss, while Barclay added seven. Shanice Marcelle of Victoria (UBC) led the way on defence with 12 kills.

In beach volleyball, Canada continued to impress in both women’s and men’s.

The undefeated duo of Melissa Humana-Paredes of Toronto and Taylor Pischke of Winnipeg beat Germany to advance to the quarters, where they play a team from Poland Thursday at 1 a.m. ET (9 a.m. Kazan).

On the men’s side, Grant O’Gorman of Toronto and Samuel Pedlow of Barrie, Ont., dropped their final preliminary match 2-0 to Germany but rebounded with a 2-0 win over France in their first playoff contest. They will resume play in the Round of 16 on Thursday.